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Adventures In The World Of Fine FoodFri, 09 Dec 2016 14:04:14 +0000en-UShourly1http://www.thenibble.com/zine/archives/index.asp?r=rssZinehttp://www.thenibble.com/images/ui/NibbleLogoTagBorder_144.gifTHE NIBBLE - Great Food Findsthenibble-weekly-zinehttps://feedburner.google.comRead the current issue of our acclaimed food newsletter. THE NIBBLE Top Food Pick Of The Week is published each Tuesday, featuring the Editors' pick of the week.TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Aldi For Christmas Entertaininghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thenibble-weekly-zine/~3/4OUR9kXRVuE/
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Recently, we went to our neighborhood specialty food store to buy appetizers for a get together with wine.

Sure, the cheeses we picked were $25 a pound; our favorite crackers from La Panzanella and Raincoast Crisps aren’t inexpensive. And we do tend to buy too much.

But when the cashier said, “$146.76 please,” we were floored.

For this weekend’s entertaining, we took a car service to ALDI (we live in Manhattan, where most people don’t own cars). We paid $70 for a the same amount of food; so even with transportation we came out ahead. (And this group of friends doesn’t care about the difference between Fiscalini Bandage-Wrapped Cheddar and Cabot (our everyday brand).

If you’re inviting friends and family, ALDI is the place to save big bucks on quality foods.

From cheese and charcuterie to chocolate and desserts to an entire cooked ham, turkey or roast beef dinner: Everything is delicious.

There are also food gift items and wines, as permitted by state.

Weekly specials include dozens of food and non-food products at a great value: everything from small kitchen appliances and seasonal items to outdoor furniture and gardening tools.

All are carefully curated and are backed by a double guarantee. If you’re not 100% satisfied, bring it back for a refund and a replacement product.

ABOUT ALDI

ALDI launched in 1961 in Germany, the world’s first first discounter. In 1976 they opened a U.S. store in Iowa, and how have more than 1,500 stores in 34 states, expanding to 2,000 stores by 2018. Worldwide, there are some 10,000 stores in 18 countries.

Everyone loves the low, low prices, which Aldi achieves through a no-frills approach to food retailing:

Basic inventory displays. As with Costco, merchandise is displayed in their shipping boxes to help save resources in restocking shelves.

Selective inventory: the basics, but not the universe (e.g., the 10 most popular cheeses, 1 brand of ketchup or yogurt instead of several choices). There are gluten-free and organic foods.

No credit cards: cash or debit cards only.

BYO bags or pay for them. As with Costco, you can take empty stock boxes as you find them.

Private label products. More than 90% of the inventory comprises store brands, guaranteed to be as good or better than national brands.

No non-essential services: no overhead of banking, check-cashing, pharmacy, etc.

There is no e-commerce, but you can visit the company website, get the lay of the land and use the store locator to find the ALDI nearest to you.

What Does ALDI Mean?

The discount food business was founded by the two Albrecht brothers. The name is an acronym for (AL)brecht and (DI)scounter.

[1] Want an entire catered dinner? You’ll save a lot getting it at ALDI (photo courtesy ALDI). [2] From cheese and charcuterie to other nibbles, you’ll find what you need at ALDI (photo courtesy Cupcakes And Cutlery). [3] For dessert, there’s everything from the classics to the seasonal, like these mini linzer tarts (photo courtesy Aldi).

While Finally Ginger calls itself a ginger cookie, it is a hybrid—a hard cookie with a snap, with a textured surface dotted with sparkling sugar.

A ginger cookie is a soft, molasses-type cookie that is flavored with ginger and other spices. It is larger than, and otherwise differs from, a gingersnap Crusaders returning from the Middle East brought ginger and other spices.

A gingersnap is a thin, plain round cookie with a hard, smooth texture like a gingerbread cookie. It is a smaller version of the traditional German Christmas cookie known as Lebkuchen. Like a gingerbread cookie, ginger snaps break with a “snap.” Gingersnaps contain a larger amount of ginger, and thus are spicier, than the chewier ginger cookies.

Gingerbread is a fancier affair, often cut into special shapes (cottages, flowers, hearts, horses, people, trees, etc., along with 3-D houses and carousels) and hand-decorated with icing and candies. Monks made the first gingerbread for holidays and festivals. The tale of Hansel and Gretel, published in 1812 (as part of Grimm’s Fairy Tales), vastly increased the popularity of gingerbread cookies and other treats, such as gingerbread Christmas cards. Gingerbread men and animals became popular Christmas tree ornaments.

[1] SuperSeedz is made in nine flavors, from sweet to savory to hot and spicy (photo SuperSeedz). [2] In addition to snacking, SuperSeedz make delicious garnishes and mix-ins; here, mixed into a vegetable garnish for polenta. Here’s the recipe for the polenta and the spaghetti from Taste With The Eyes. [3] Add some Tomato Italiano SuperSeedz—or Curious Curry or Somewhat Spicy—to your favorite pasta.

Over the past 12 years of nibbling, we’ve had lots of Top Picks Of The Week. All are wonderful foods, but some become part of our everyday lives—because they’re what we usually eat.

SuperSeedz, gourmet shelled pumpkin seeds that we first discovered in 2007, is one of those.

A better-for-you, nutritious, fiber-filled and very flavorful, crunchy snack, we also love it as a garnish.

At $4.99, the five-ounce bags make really nice Thanksgiving favors and stocking stuffers, and are great for everyday grab-and-go.

Many casual cooks discovered the joy of strawberry butter at restaurant brunches, and learned how easy it is to make at home (here’s more about compound butter, also called flavored butter and finishing butter).

Epicurean Butter is a terrific line that makes anyone an instantly-better cook. But before we get to it, a seasonal message:

Now that it’s holiday season, go for holiday flavors: brandy, cranberry, hazelnut, pecan, pumpkin spice, sage, and so on. We have a variety of recipe variations below, but we’ll start with one that few people can resist: Cranberry Orange Butter.

COMPOUND BUTTER: SWEET OR SAVORY

Sweet compound butters are delicious on breakfast foods: bagels, muffins, toast, pancakes, waffles etc. They also are delicious on crackers or biscuits for snacks or with a tea break.

Savory compound butters are used to give flavor to proteins and vegetables, and to make quick pan sauces.

All compound butters can be made in advance and kept in the fridge, rolled into a log and covered with plastic wrap. This is what professional chefs do. When they’re needed, you simply cut off what you need.

1. WHIP the butter and honey with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and fold in until combined.

2. TRANSFER to a small serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Variations

Brandy Butter: 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup superfine sugar, 3 tablespoons brandy, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Cream the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the sugar a bit at a time. When the mixture is very white and frothy, beat in the brandy and vanilla. Makes 3/4 cup. Substitute rum or Grand Marnier.

[3] Epicurean Butter: We have several different flavors in our fridge right now. [4] Organic Cocoa Coconut Butter won the top prize in its category at this year’s Fancy Food Show (photos courtesy Deli Market News). [5] Beyond sophisticated uses, simply spread savory compound butter on bread and vegetables (photo courtesy Kraft).

TOP PICK: EPICUREAN BUTTER

We have long been enamored of Epicurean Butter, a line of compound butters created by a professional chef for the home cook.

The flavors cater to both classic and contemporary cuisine, with butters in savory and sweet flavors.

The home cook is now empowered to finish and present meals like a fine chef, just by taking the lid off the tub of butter. People who think they have modest cooking talents should not be surprised to hear applause at the table—just by adding a pat to a grilled protein or making a quick pan sauce simpy by deglazing the pan.

In addition to topping savory foods, savory compound butters can be used as a bread spread at the dinner table or with drinks.

We especially enjoy serving them as an easy hors d’oeuvre with aperitifs, spread on thin slices of baguette or fancy crackers and topped with a garnish (capers, chopped fresh herbs, olive or peppadew half, etc.).

You can pre-spread the bread or crackers and serve them on a tray; or place the butter(s) in a ramekin in the middle of the bread/crackers and let people spread their own.

that finishing and compound butters are what often take a normal at-home meal up to restaurant quality. Available in 3.5 oz. tubs and some in the newly introduced 1 oz. single-serve packets, these butters are all rBST-free

[1] Glamorized Pumpkin Spice Truffles: Lauren of Climbing Grier Mountain tops the truffles with a bit of frosting and gold sprinkles. [2] Boxes of Lindor truffles are available at retailers nationwide (photo courtesy JunkBanter.com). [3] For larger sizes, head to LindtUSA.com. This bag contains 75 truffles. [4] You don’t have to be a professional like Becky Bakes to create a holiday cake with Lindor truffles. Tip: Use a simpler garnish!

Last week was a big chocolate week for us, from the Big Chocolate Show in New York City to a media trip to Lindt’s U.S. headquarters in New Hampshire.

Our favorite discoveries were at Lindt: not just the million-square-foot bean-to-bar plant, thick with chocolate aroma, but the ability to taste just about everything Lindt produces.

We have many favorites, but one in particular is our Top Pick Of The Week: Lindor Pumpkin Spice Truffles.

The milk chocolate shell has a creamy center of “smooth melting pumpkin spice filling.” We can’t get enough of them, and have stocked up on this limited edition (through the season, while supplies last) to get us through Valentine’s Day.

No wonder Lindt packages these truffles in jumbo sizes in addition to the standard 5.1-ounce and 8.5-ounce packages available at retailers nationwide (suggested prices $4.39 and $6.99, respectively).

For larger sizes, we headed to Lindt Outlet Stores and Lindt’s online store at LindtUSA.com. There, you can find:

75-piece gift bag, $28

36-piece gift bag, $16

550-piece case, $145

A BIT OF LINDT HISTORY

Before we move on to drinking the truffles, here’s a quick note on how Lindor Truffles came to be.

In 1845, Zurich store owner David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his son, Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann, decided to be among the first confectioners in Switzerland to manufacture chocolate in a solid form.

Prior to then, chocolate was a beverage, as it had been since Mesoamericans first began to use it around 1500 B.C.E. (the timeline of chocolate).

Solid chocolate then was nothing like the product we know. It was a gritty, chewy product. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable, though. Some companies, like Tazo, still make this old-style chocolate.

But progress marched forward.

In 1879 chocolatier Rodolphe Lindt of Berne, Switzerland, indadvertently developed a technique, conching, that created the smooth, silky chocolate we enjoy today.

Ten years later, older brother Johann Rudolf Sprüngli acquired the Lindt business, and the secret to making smooth, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. The new company was called Lindt & Sprüngli, but Lindt, the easier name to pronounce in different languages, became the brand name.

Right after World War II, with time to re-focus on life’s pleasures, the creative chocolatiers at Lindt & Sprüngli developed the Lindor truffle, enrobing an even meltier center with its famed chocolate.

Lindor is a contraction of Lindt d’Or, Golden Lindt. We heartily concur: These truffles are golden.

When we visited the Lindt Outlet Store (here’s a store locator for both Lindt Chocolate Shops and Lindt Outlet Stores), we found a large cafe counter offering the choice of these drinks and more. We dove right in.

Our recommendation: For a less sweet drink, use two Lindor truffles per 8 ounces of hot milk or coffee. For a sweeter drink, use three truffles. Whisk them in one at a time.

We haven’t stopped drinking Lindt hot chocolate since!

Pizzazzerei set up a party bar, an idea you may want to try for your own fall entertaining.

You can also use Lindt truffles as a cocktail garnish, matching the different Lindor flavors (more than 20) to specific drink recipes.

If you can’t cook or want to entertain but can’t be both cook and hostess, you can still serve a feast in your own home—no assistance necessary.

As long as you can turn on the oven, you can serve a splendid repast any meal of the day, thanks to Babeth’s Feast gourmet frozen foods.

You can serve them the day they arrive, or put them in the freezer for future feasting

THE FEAST BEGINS…

Elisbeth, founder of Babeth’s Feast, discovered premium frozen food while living in Paris. French people shop daily for fresh ingredients to cook.

But they also frequent frozen food specialty stores. Elegantly prepared frozen foods enable them to serve more elaborate meals, just by turning on the oven.

To eat at home and entertain friends in style, she began to purchase frozen hors d’oeuvres by the dozen to host effortless cocktail parties. On weekends, she created elaborate brunch buffets from frozen breakfast pastries, meats, soups, quiches and desserts.

She became a champion of the power of flash-frozen foods to provide the flavor, quality, connection and convenience that busy people need.

To these prepared foods she added her own salad and wine, and friends never suspected the food was ready-made. These Sunday gatherings became known as “Babeth’s Feast.”

…BUT NOT IN THE U.S.A., UNTIL…

Upon moving to New York, Elisabeth was chagrined that no elegant frozen-food store could be found. She—and the entire European expat community—really missed that easy option.

Ordering in just couldn’t compare, and calling a caterer was cost-prohibitive.

Wanting the ease, the spontaneity and the quality selection, Elisabeth/Babeth decided to bring a premium frozen food store to her new hometown. After careful sourcing and extensive recipe development, she opened Babeth’s Feast, a shop on the Upper East Side.

And on the Internet.

Whether for fancy entertaining or simpler dinners for every day, you can dine as if you had a cook. (You do: Babeth and her team.)

The recipes range from popular crowd pleasers and kid pleasers to more sophisticated foodie fare.

And it’s proof that you can’t tell the difference between flash-frozen foods and made-from-scratch (we challenge you, Gordon Ramsay!). They deliver flavor, quality and convenience to fine dining* at home.

So claim full credit for yourself, or let guests in on your secret. Babeth endorses both options.

______________*It doesn’t have to be “fine.” There are plenty of choices for people who prefer mac and cheese, burgers and fries.

Did you make this rack of lamb dinner? Or this family-friendly salmon? Sure you did: You turned on the oven, didn’t you? (Photos courtesy Babeth’s Feast).

Raffald’s recipe calls for a mornay sauce—a secondary mother sauce that’s a béchamel sauce with cheese—in this case, cheddar cheese. The sauce is mixed with cooked macaroni, sprinkled with parmesan, and baked until golden.

The recipe from scratch requires cooked macaroni (now referred to by its Italian name, pasta); plus milk, butter and flour and cheese to make the cheddar or parmesan sauce.

Almost a century later, in 1861, the popular Victorian cookbook Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management offered two recipes for the dish, one topped with the bread crumbs still used today. Both books are available in reprints: Just click the links.

Thomas Jefferson encountered pasta in Paris while Minister to France (1885 to 1889), and in his travels to Italy. Back in the U.S., he imported both macaroni and parmesan cheese in order to enjoy cheesy macaroni.

Mac & Cheese Gets Its Name

The first recipe called “macaroni and cheese” was published in the U.S. in 1824, in Mary Randolph’s influential cookbook, The Virginia Housewife. More American “macaroni and cheese” recipes followed, in the 1852 Hand-book of Useful Arts, and the 1861 Godey’s Lady’s Book.

By the mid-1880s, midwestern cookbooks included recipes for macaroni and cheese casseroles. Labor-intensive, the dish was enjoyed by the more affluent [source].

Mac & Cheese Gets A Box

Once it became available in dry packaged form in the first half of the 20th century, mac and cheese became affordable to the masses—and thus less interesting to the affluent. Launched in 1937 in the midst of the Great Depression, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese advertised that a family of four could eat for 19¢, the price of a box. Consumers bought eight million boxes in the first year [source].

A whopping 50 million boxes were sold during World War II, when meat and dairy were in short supply, and one food ration stamp could be exchanged for two boxes of macaroni and cheese.

Today, the original packaged form is joined by frozen heat-and-eat versions and cheddar cheese sauce is sold in jars. The dish can be cooked on the stovetop, in the oven or in a microwave.

In the United States, July 14th is National Macaroni and Cheese Day. Now that we’re up to date…

WELCOME, CRACKER BARREL MACARONI & CHEESE

Up-front disclosure: We’re really picky about our food, and have never enjoyed powdered cheese sauce. Our mom made mac and cheese from scratch, grating cheddar, gruyère or parmesan into her béchamel.

She used bricks Cracker Barrel cheddar, her brand of choice. Back then, specialty cheese stores were few and far between; and even today, it’s not easy for many people to find the finest farmhouse (artisan) cheddars (and if you found them, the best use would not be grated into a cheese sauce).

So we were more than interested to see what Cracker Barrel would present as a packaged mac and cheese.

It’s the cheese that makes the biggest difference in preparations, and Cracker Barrel does not disappoint. Its cheese sauce is not mixed from powder, but is ready to eat, squeezed from a package onto the cooked elbow macaroni.

Smooth, creamy and full of flavor, it has a distinctively superior taste, creating what you’d expect from a casual restaurant instead of a boxed product.

And while it comes in a box, Cracker Barrel is not meant to compete with other boxed mac and cheese (Kraft owns Cracker Barrel as well as the number-one brand, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese) but with prepared dishes from the refrigerated section of the grocery store, and with restaurant dishes. (Kraft, which owns the Cracker Barrel trademark, has no relation to the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.)

People with sophisticated palates will notice the quality. Yet, the price is not much more than other boxed meals.

There are four varieties of Cracker Barrel Macaroni and Cheese, featuring different cheese options:

Cheddar Havarti

Sharp Cheddar

Sharp Cheddar & Bacon

Sharp White Cheddar

You can dress up the dish with anything you like. We enjoy it plain with fresh-cracked pepper and some grated parmesan, but also loved:

September 5th is National Cheese Pizza Day, honoring the original modern pizza, the Margherita. It was named after Queen Margherita, consort to Umberto I, King of Italy from 1878–1900.

As the story goes, during a visit to Naples, she asked the best pizza maker in town, Don Raffaele, to make her a pie. He made it in the colors of the Italian flag, a simple but delicious pie of basil, mozzarella and tomatoes. Here’s the history of pizza.

WHAT’S A STOVETOP PIZZA OVEN?

Simply this: a steel case that sits on top of a gas burner and cooks your pizza atop pizza stones. There’s no electricity, no wood chips, no nuthin’ but the Pizzeria Pronto and your gas range.

We love it: from the pizza stones that create an oh-so-delightful crust to the top quality ingredients we used. As long as we have dough in the fridge, we can have a pizza anytime we want, better than anything delivered. efficient new way to make pizza at home.

Pizzeria Pronto is made by Companion Group, a company that began more than 30 years ago with the original Charcoal Companion charcoal chimney starter. The line now includes other grilling tools and accessories, and the Pizzacraft® line of artisan-quality pizza stones, pizza ovens, tools and accessories.

In 2013 the company launched the first propane-fueled outdoor portable pizza oven, which pre-heats in 10 minutes and cooks the pie in 5 minutes. In 2016, the indoor Pizzeria Pronto® Stovetop Pizza Oven was released nationwide—the first gas range-powered indoor oven.

Small but mighty, Pizzeria Pronto transforms your favorite dough and toppings into perfectly-cooked pizzas in just minutes (after all, the name means “pizza in a hurry”). With its heat-efficient design, it traps and reflects heat to harness the power of your gas range, creating an optimal cooking environment of up to 600°F. Yet, the room is no warmer than if you used your oven.

How To Use Pizzeria Pronto Stovetop Pizza Oven

Simply place the round oven over a gas burner and turn on the flame.

The inside of the oven reaches 600°F, much higher than a conventional oven.

It preheats in 15 minutes and cooks a personal-size pizza in 6 minutes. TIP: If you want to keep the first pizzas hot while you cook more, keep them warm in a conventional oven preheated to 500°F.

You also need a personal-size pizza peel to insert and remove the pizza from the oven. The company sells one separately.

It’s well worth the space it requires if you’d like to make pizza weekly or more often. We don’t have extra room in our kitchen so we did a bit of housecleaning. So long, old backup food processor and biannually-used waffle iron.

WHERE TO FIND IT

Pizzeria Pronto is available at major retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Sur La Table, Williams-Sonoma and online. Williams-Sonoma carries a gray-top model instead of the standard red-orange model shown in the photos.

Prices vary but it’s currently $106.27 on Amazon (a deep discount off the MSRP of $179.99).

[1] Place the oven on the stovetop and turn up the flame to preheat. Add the pizza. [2] Close the oven door. [3] Cook for six minutes. [4] Remove the pizza, fragrant and bubbling. Photos courtesy Pizzeria Pronto .

Before buying, take a minute to look at the bottom of this page to see if your gas burners will work.

OUR FIRST PIZZERIA PRONTO PARTY

We invited the crowd over for a pizza party and bought (or over-bought, as is our won’t) the ingredients: regular and whole wheat doughs, sauces and cheeses for red and white pies.

We provided lots of toppings: anchovies, garlic, jalapeños, mini meatballs, mushrooms, olives, onion and zucchini. But the crust (dough purchased from Fairway), sauce (the Classico brand Riserva line [not Bertolli Riserva]), mozzarella and ricotta (Bel Gioso) were so good that most people opted for a plain pie.

We personally, however, had anchovies from Cento: not salty, just right.

JonnyPops in Banana Cinnamon & Cream and Strawberries & Cream. Each bite is a joy. [2] Look for this box. [3] A creative snack or breakfast: added to yogurt. You can also top a pie, or dip the whole bar in chocolate. All photos courtesy JonnyPops.

In 2011, still in college, Jonny Pop’s CEO Erik Brust and his cousin Jonathan imagined starting a business, selling an “all-natural, fruit-forward, purely delicious frozen treat that would take the market by storm.”

They tried every fruit bar and ice cream novelty they could find, dividing the pops into two categories: icy and artificial, or decadent and unhealthy. A year later, in his dorm room, Erik decided to make it a reality.

Blend fresh fruit, cream, cane sugar, purified water and a pinch of salt, the team has achieved something special: what they describe as a smoothie-on-a-stick and “frozen goodness.” These are apt descriptions.

Smooth and creamy, redolent of fresh fruit (often with toothsome bits of fruit in each bite), the ingredients may be simple but the way they come together is outstanding.

JONNYPOPS FLAVORS

Each flavor as splendid as the next, each bite a joy. We were fortunate to receive samples of each. It’s impossible to choose; but by the same token, there’s no wrong choice. Try them all:

Banana Cinnamon & Cream

Coffee & Chocolate (coffee lovers: you’ll go wild for it)

Mango & Cream

Pineapple Coconut & Cream

Raspberries Blueberries & Cream

Strawberries & Cream

Strawberry Banana & Cream

The manufacturing facility is completely peanut- and tree nut-free with the exception of the coconut flavor; and are gluten-free.

Try them direct from the wrapper, as well as:

Cubed and added to yogurt.

Cubed and used for pie à la mode.

Dipped in chocolate (at the Minnesota State Fair—so much better than deep-fried Twinkies).

PAY IT FORWARD

The company’s mission is to make the world a better place, one pop at a time. Each JonnyPops stick is printed with a good deed to be paid forward. You can suggest good deeds on their Facebook page.

Now for the sad part: Cousin Jonathan, the original co-imaginer, died of a drug overdose before the company came to be.

The product is named in his memory, and the company donates a portion of the proceeds—plus a supply of JonnyPops—to the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, a national leader in addiction treatment and recovery. Every pop you buy helps in the fight against substance abuse.

ASK YOUR GROCER

Here’s the rub:

JonnyPops is a small start-up with concomitant resources to sell in to retailers. The pops are currently distributed in the Midwest, California, New York and Texas, but in not enough locations.

You can help! Print out this product request form and bring it to your grocer, deli or convenience store. (Bring it to all of them!)

In 1923 Frank Epperson, a California real estate salesman, made his homemade treats—frozen juice on a stick—for a Fireman’s Ball.

His “Epsicles” were a sensation, and Frank obtained a patent for “a handled, frozen confection or ice lollipop.” His kids called the treat a Popsicle, after their Pop (so if Mom had made them instead of Pop, they could have been Momsicles).

When we first reviewed Choctál ice cream in 2007, it was a unique experience. It still is.

The California company pioneered single origin ice cream in the two most popular flavors, chocolate and vanilla. The line—four single origin chocolate ice creams and four single origin vanillas—demonstrate how the flavor varies, based on the origin of the cacao and vanilla beans.

This means you can have one heck of an ice cream tasting for National Ice Cream Month (July).

It’s a memorable experience, especially for people who enjoy discerning the different flavor profiles between one origin and another in chocolate bars, olive oils, sea salts, wine grapes and so forth. The flavors of these agricultural products and others are greatly affected by their growing environment (terroir).

Fast-forward ahead a few thousand years—beyond the labor-intensive ice cream made by servants of the wealthy in pre-electricity Renaissance days, beyond the invention of the ice cream churn in 1851, beyond the soda fountains at neighborhood drug scores, which engendered the ice cream soda along with scooped ice cream to eat at the fountain or to take home.

Along with home refrigerators, supermarket brands arrived in the 1950s. Many used cheaper ingredients and whipped more air into then ice cream (known as overrun) to keep gallon prices low. This engendered a USDA classification system. “Economy,” “regular” and “premium” ice creams were defined by butterfat content and overrun.

Häagen-Daz arrived in the 1970s with even higher butterfat and lower overrun than premium ice cream, inaugurating the superpremium category. With butterfat greater than 14% (some brands have 18% and more), overrun as low as 20% and complex flavors in addition to the basic ones), there’s no rung higher to go on the classification scale—by government standards, at least.

Some companies—including Choctál—have labeled their ice cream “ultrapremium,” but this is marketing rather than an official government standard.

And now, there’s single origin ice cream.

WHAT IS “SINGLE-ORIGIN?”

The term is not currently regulated in the U.S., but single origin can refer either to a single region or at the micro level, to a single farm or estate within that region.

It is based on the agricultural concept of terroir (tur-WAH), a French term that is the basis for its the A.O.C. system (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, or controlled designation of origin), created in the 1950s.

[1] A pint of Kalimantan chocolate, with beans from Borneo. [2] The four origins of chocolate and vanilla may look the same, but the tastes are noticeably different. [3] A pint of vanilla made with beans from Madagascar, the classic raised to the heights by Choctál (photos courtesy Choctál).

These environmental characteristics gives agricultural products their character. A.O.C. and related terms like Italy’s P.D.O. (Denominazione di Origine Protetta, or Protected Designation of Origin.) recognize that different plots of land produce different flavors from the same rootstock. In the 1990s, the European Union created a new system to provide a uniform labeling protocol: Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).What IS “TERROIR?”Terroir, pronounced tur-WAH is a French agricultural term that is the basis of the French A.O.C. (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) system. It refers to the unique components of the place (environment) where an agricultural product is grown.

Each specific habitat (plot of land) has unique set of environmental factors that affect a crop’s qualities, down to nuances of aroma, flavor and texture. They include the climate and microclimate, weather (the season’s growing conditions), elevation height and slant of the land), proximity to a body of water, slant of the land, soil type and amount of direct sunlight.

This means that the same rootstock that is grown in different locations produces different flavors.

Not only will the product taste and smell somewhat different (Sauvignon Blanc can have grass or grapefruit aroma and flavor notes—or neither—depending on their terroir), but intermediate products also create a difference.

For example, grass with more clover, wild herbs, and so forth produces a delicate difference in an animal’s milk, and thus in artisan cheese.

Note that processing will also affect the flavor. Neighboring wine makers, for example, can use different techniques to create wines that highlight their personal flavor preferences.

Choctàl pints and cones (photos courtesy Choctàl).

THE CHOCTÀL SINGLE ORIGIN ICE CREAMS

Choctàl Single Origin Chocolate Ice Cream

Costa Rican cacao is distinguished by sweet notes of coffee and a hint of butterscotch.

Ghana cacao, from the coast of West Africa, has a fudge, milk chocolate character.

Kalimantan cacao, from the island of Borneo in the South China Sea, produces intense cacao beans with a slight hint of caramel.

Dominican cacao, from the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, has a natural dark chocolate flavor profile with notes of clove and nutmeg.

Madagascar vanilla, from the island off the eastern coast of Africa, has been the world standard in vanilla for centuries, smooth and buttery. In the hands of Choctal, it may be the best vanilla ice cream you’ll ever taste.

Mexican vanilla has a natural touch of cinnamon. Choctàl adds more cinnamon. It obscures the single origin flavor, but makes a delicious cinnamon-vanilla ice cream.

Papua New Guinea vanilla has fruity, floral notes of cherry that linger on the palate during a long, lush finish.

The line is certified kosher by OU.

While the main experience is to taste and compared the different origins to each other, they are also splendid in everything from à la mode to floats.

WHERE TO FIND CHOCTÁL ICE CREAMHere’s a store locator to find the nearest pint of Choctàl.You can also order pints and gift cards on the Choctàl website.